PROBLEMS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT

Former President Clinton looked bewildered a couple of nights ago, when trying to refute accusations that his wife is part of the “Establishment.”

He asked how can she be when she’s a woman running for an office no woman has ever held.

The former president misses the point.

“The Establishment generally denotes a dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation or organization . . . In fact, any relatively small class or group of people having control can be referred to as The Establishment . . . ” (Wikipedia: “The Establishment”)

Based on this definition, the Clintons are a part of the Establishment. They have spent years promoting their liberal ideals, from abortion and same-sex marriage to big government programs, multiculturalism and political correctness.

I was amused a few days ago when a prominent female supporter of Hillary Clinton enthusiastically talked of her candidacy. She said that if Mrs. Clinton doesn’t make it, then former Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, will run. This would mean that Americans would have two billionaires to choose from, Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg. What would the rest of the world think of American democracy if two billionaires were running for office? She did not mention that Mrs. Clinton is a multi-millionaire. Nor did she express any concern about donations made to Mrs. Clinton that are clearly a conflict of interest.

This is turning out to be the most interesting US presidential election since 1968. At that time, I was a teenager living in England. Britain had its own radical government at the time, the second post-war Labour government led by Harold Wilson.

It seemed like everything was changing. Abortion and homosexuality were both legalized, while the death penalty was abolished. There were also radical financial decisions taken, including nationalization of some industries (others had already been nationalized). The left-wing financial decisions were reversed under Margaret Thatcher over a decade later; but the other reforms stayed the same.

Other countries were going through the same radical changes.

Fifty years later, like it or not, the liberal-leftists who have dominated the western world are now the establishment, an establishment that has clearly failed the country.

What we saw in New Hampshire was a political earthquake. The headlines were dramatic — fittingly so: “Sanders, Trump Stun America,” CNN declared on its website. The American Prospect summed it up with a tidy statement: “The Establishment Sinks.” The look on Bill Clinton’s face took me back to 1989 when Rumania’s President Nicolai Caucescu first realized the people were rising up against him. There was shock and horror together with bewilderment – how could the people reject me was written all over his face.

This is not an American phenomenon. We see the same thing happening in other western countries. “Extremists” (as far as the media is concerned) of both right and left are challenging the established center.

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Meanwhile, the following report appeared on the BBC’s website yesterday, one day after Janet Yellin’s testimony before Congress warning of the worsening international financial environment:

“Analysts said US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s gloomy economic assessment on Wednesday had added to investors’ worries. In testimony to Congress, she said that financial conditions in the US had become “less supportive” of growth and warned of the “increased volatility” in global financial markets. Rabobank European strategist Emile Cardon said the worst could still lie ahead: “The bad news in now coming from everywhere – China, Portugal, the US, the commodity sector, the banking sector. It’s like several smaller crises could combine into one big crisis.”

It’s not just the global economy that’s a worry.

German Foreign Policy reports that we are going to see more wars this year.

BERLIN – In an article published by the leading German foreign policy journal, an influential diplomat predicts that worldwide, there will be a further increase in the number of wars and their victims, this year. “The number of conflicts, their victims, and their refugees” has been increasing worldwide, for the past five years and this development will “most likely continue this year.” The
journal, Internationale Politik, substantiates this assumption by presenting an overview of the current wars. Today’s deadliest wars (are) in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and South Sudan.

When Jesus Christ was asked by His disciples what would be the sign of His Second Coming, He replied:

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” (Matt 24:6)

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Thursday evening, less than 24 hours ago, an individual attacked customers in a restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, with a machete, injuring four, one of whom is critical. First reports assured people this was not terrorism; then they announced the name of the man responsible, Mohammad Barry.

Meanwhile, the Pope, on a visit to Mexico, will stand with migrants at the US border, symbolically demanding the US let more migrants in. It’s not just the politicians who don’t get it!

I LOVED the analogy to what we are seeing today and what happened to Romania’s President Nicolai Caucescu. I had forgotten about that look he had on his face. I think that is one of the major problems with those in power, both in politics AND the US media. They are so isolated from the real world that they have NO idea what the average citizen is going through. As I’ve said before, my job puts me into direct daily contact with many different people from all different sectors….age, income, etc. Most younger people don’t even begin to try to understand the world around them. Just give them access to social media, a gaming console, Netflix, and the number to the local pizza delivery place and they are happy. Older people, 60+, usually express one of two attitudes. They either are very concerned about their children’s and grand children’s futures because of all the immorality and financial craziness OR they have the “doesn’t matter to me, I’ll be dead before everything crashes”. The latter crowd is the one I have to bite my tongue with. How SELFISH!! Not concerned one inkling about anyone but themselves.

As for Fed head Janet Yellen. I think she likes seeing herself quoted in the news WAY too much. No Fed chair in history has bloviated so much and all her bloviating is increasing market jitters.

I believe the next shoe to drop economically is going to be the collapse of China’s banking system, or almost near collapse. All this money created in the past few years by Central Banks around the world has mostly flowed to China. China was ill-prepared to handle this type of over night prosperity and to make things worse, China is an atheist country so doing unto others as you would have them do unto you isn’t even in their vocabulary. Let me put the Chinese banking system into proper perspective. The US banks lost $650 billion in the 08 fiasco, Chinese banks are looking at over $3.5 trillion in bad debt. They are going to have to drastically reduce the value (the value which up to now has been totally artificial) of the yuan and their central bank is going to have to print upwards of $10 trillion to keep their banking system afloat. Who knows what type of systemic risk this entails for the banks of the West. I’ve read several news stories this past week where the problems of China are clearly perceived but I haven’t read ONE that even attempts to predict the impact on the world economy. Sorry for being long-winded.